d>> welcome to the journal. i m anne o'donnell. >> and i'm steve chaid. here are the stories we have for you this hour. thelance armstrong has been stripped the ball of his titles. >> the lebanese army says the country -- has been stripped of all of his titles. >> the lebanese army says the country is -- >> rosneft agrees to buy at --

out bp's stake in the company. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> thank you for being with us. we start with a spectacular fall from grace for the cycling legend, lance armstrong. he has been stripped of all of his seventh tour de france titles and banned for life by the international cycling union. >> the cycling world governing body said it was ratifying sanctions taken earlier this month by the u.s. anti-dumping agency -- anti-doping agency, usada. >> it had claimed that armstrong was at the heart of the "most sophisticated and successful" of doping programs the sport had seen. >> uci has ousted him from the sport. >> uci will ban armstrong from

cycling and strip him of his seventh tour de france titles. lance armstrong has no place in cycling. >> the uci upheld sanctions imposed by usada, accuses armstrong of being at the heart of a systematic doping culture. usada alleges the rider's victories from 1999-2005, after his recovery from cancer, or helped by illegal substances -- were helped by illegal substances. his teammates say he was bullying them into keeping quiet. there has been criticism of the uci for accepting $100,000 in donations -- 100,000 euros in donations from armstrong. armstrong is defined. -- defiant. >> but ask me how are you doing. i've said, i've been better, but

i've also been worse. among last week, he stepped down as chairman of his -- >> last week, he stepped down as chairman of his foundation. >> further violence in lebanon has increased fears among the international community that the war in syria could spread into neighboring countries. >> at least seven people were killed and dozens were wounded in gun battles in the country -- in the capital. opponents of bashar al-assad traded fire. there heightened fears that the civil war, with its sectarian dimensions, could lead to a wider conflict in lebanon. for more on this, we go live to our correspondent in beirut. there are reports of clashes in tripoli. what is the situation like where you are? >> it has been a long time since we have seen tanks roll into the center of beirut.

it is quite tense. we do not know whether lebanon will slide into anarchy, as you suggest in the intro. there is a cordon of soldiers and tanks ready to shoot anyone with a gun. this is all surrounding one particular neighborhood, just two kilometers from the center of beirut, which has a lot of opposition supporters. people are still angry that this a -- that the security chief was murdered last week. they believe that syria commissioned the explosion. there is a lot of anger. >> the country is going through decisive and critical stage. how much potential does the killing of lebanon's intelligence chief has in the destabilization of the country -- have in the destabilization of the country? >> the implications are huge because of what that man had achieved in previous years.

he investigated the assassination of 2005. more recently, syria's plans to destabilize lebanon. people are angry. they are demonstrating. they want to use this as an opportunity to show the government as being weak. the big question is how stable is the government. people will be looking out the role of the military in the next couple of days to use it as a barometer, some sort of litmus test, this see whether there is confidence in the government are not -- to see whether there is confidence in the government or not. >> two convicted members of the punk band pussy riot have reportedly been sent to prisons far from moscow. but the lawyers had argued that -- >> the lawyers argued that nadya tolokonnikova and maria

alyokhina could be closer to their young children in serving their prison terms in the capital. staying in russia, rosneft has tightened its grip on the oil industry with the deal to purchase tnk-bp. they would be a 20% controlled -- stakeholder. >> rosneft is the top countries -- the top oil company in russia. the deal is still subject to approval by the russian government. president vladimir putin is already voicing his support, giving a very strong indication that it will go ahead. >> bp ben is -- bp is spending #13.1 billion -- 13.1 billion euros. the remaining shareholders have sold their stake to rosneft,

reading a new oil giant controlled by the kremlin. russian president vladimir putin has given his blessing to the deal, saying it sent the right signal to markets. "this is a good, large deal that is necessary not only for the russian energy sector, but also for the entire russian economy." but the british company is also hoping to extend its influence within russia, with bp receiving rosneft shares alongside cash in the deal. it will have a chance to be more active in russia. russia is consolidating its position as a global energy power. for years, it has dominated the international gas markets with gazprom. now it is a giant in the oil industry, but it is paying a high price. the takeover has cost the russian state billions, money that russia urgently needs to

modernize its outdated industry. >> germany's natural -- the biggest natural gas producer is set to expand its operations in the -- its operations. >> they would gain access to potentially-lucrative reserves. they should be able to see degette boost production starting next year, if the deal is approved -- they should be able to significantly boost production starting next year, if the deal is approved. the norwegian state-owned company is western europe's biggest natural gas exporter, producing about 100 billion cubic meters per year. its german partner has been pushing statoil to expand operations in the region. they have licenses from more than 40 fields off the norwegian coast. the latest deal gives them their rights to three additional oil and gas fields for slightly more

than 1 billion euros. the company also plans to team up with statoil in opening up another gas reserves in the dairy year future -- in the very near future. they are planning to invest 2 billion euros in tapping oil and gas reserves off of norway and britain. >> siemens says it is pulling out of the solar-energy industry, saying the sector has not been as profitable as hoped. >> company is in talks with potential buyers for its solar division. siemens says its renewable- energy operations will concentrate on wind power and hydroelectric energy. >> profits in germany's solar industry may be something, but the german government is enjoying record tax revenues. >> receipts surged more than 4% compared with september of last year, largely due to stable employment figures and strong

corporate earnings. >> but there are some clouds on the horizon, signs the economy might slip down by the end of the year -- might slow down by the end of the year. the country has industrial giants, but it also has thousands of small- and medium- sized countries that export markets around the world. the new study says such companies are helping germany whether the economic crisis -- weather the economic crisis. >> it gives germany added value in the form of jobs and earnings, more so than any other country. we are ranked fifth in the world as a place to do business. >> one byproduct of this is that tax revenues are surging in germany. this year, for the first time, more than 600 billion euros flowed into state coffers, but there is no room for complacency. >> everything the finance ministry takes in now must go towards balancing the budget. we have to do this by 2013 or

2014 at the latest. >> this is because concerns are growing that the economy could start contracting by the end of the year. there are already signs of this in the automobile industry. sas of german cars are declining. >> ok. let's check in on monday's market action. our correspondent sent us this summary of the action at the frankfurt stock exchange. >> germany is still better off than many other countries, especially in europe. the traders here in the stock market foresee that. they appreciate it. at the same time, they see that the sovereign debt crisis is making its mark in a negative sense. they see that in the companies that are reporting. that is the main reason why the dax went down near the end of the day. especially hard-meeting news from upon united states -- hard- hitting news from the united

states, google, caterpillar, the world's largest tractor and construction-machinery maker. they had a record profit in the third quarter, but they are looking more pessimistically ahead. that affected the trading here. especially because there are more company reports expected later in the week, for example, from daimler-benz and volkswagen. >> we will stay in frankfurt for closer look at the numbers. the dax finished monday down by 7/10 of 1%. euro stoxx 50 also sliding, going into the end of monday, down by 4/10 of 1%. the dow is off by 6/101%, but the euro is looking up, trading at 1.3046. >> an italian court has sentenced a group of scientists and one government official to six years in prison for failing to provide adequate warnings prior to a deadly earthquake in

2009. >> the judges found the seven defendants guilty of multiple manslaughter in connection with the earthquake that killed more than 300 people in the city of l'aquila. the defendants were members of an advisory committee which met in l'awuila just six days before the -- l'aquila just six days before the earthquake shtruck. they had said there were no signs of concern the preceding six months. prime minister mariano rajoy's party influence has increased in galicia. >> despite rising unemployment and a deepening recession in spain, the conservatives did manage to retain their majority. >> the conservatives' leader in galica gets to keep his job after sunday possible. his party even expanded its majority in the regional

parliament. they feared a backlash after cutting spending. >> in a crisis like we're going through now, it is unusual to receive as much support as we did. >> the opposition socialists trailed in second place, suggesting voters do not trust them to solve spain's economic woes. elections were also held in the basque region. >> participation by all rational, political forces and no violence have made today a great day for democracy. >> the basque pro-independence alliance came in second. observers are waiting to see whether the first place basque nationalists ask the separatists to join a coalition.

>> we'll be back in just 60 seconds. we will look at the upcoming debate in the u.s. presidential election. >> this and much, much more. stay with us.

>> welcome back. monday night is the third and final debate between the two presidential candidates in the u.s. elections. >> the incumbent, barack obama, was seen to have gotten the better of his republican rival, mitt romney, in the second debate. that came after mitt romney's feisty performance gave him valuable ground in the first debate. >> let's take a look at what we can expect in their last encounter before the election. >> mitt romney says he wants to make america great again. something he says obama has

failed to do. he thinks the u.s. should flex its muscles a little bit more in the middle east. >> i will not hesitate to impose new sanctions on iran, and will tighten the sanctions we currently have. i will restore the permanent and i will work with israel to increase our military assistance and coordination. >> romney says he would not rule out a military attack against iran. his advisers, who include some bush-era foreign-policy hawks, say showing weakness rather than strength is provocative. obama also says he wants to promote u.s. interests around the world. instead of military strength, he believes that can best be achieved through reconciliation, dialogue, and cooperation. he has shaken head -- hands with hugo chávez. he says only 4-thinking foreign

policies can work. -- forward-thinking foreign policies can work. >> you can end the afghan war responsibly, bring our troops home. >> romney says he intends to take a harder line with america's for merkel war enemy -- former cold war enemy. >> mr. putin will see a little less flexibility and more backbone. >> in the second debate, romney distance himself from the last republican president, george w. bush. >> we are different people. these are different times. pimm on the topic of china, romney sounds -- >> on the topic of china, romney sounds quite similar to his predecessor. >> they have stolen our intellectual property. even as he is talking about cracking down on china, he has left the door wide open for them

to come in and run across our countryside, stealing our jobs and killing our businesses. >> they are designed to ensure that they are part of a broader, international community, in which rules and norms are respected, in which all countries can prosper and succeed. >> as far as foreign policy goes, the rivals could hardly be farther apart. the third and final debate before the election is one of the last chances they will have to win over those voters who are still undecided. >> well, coming up, we will have a report on the health implications for living in cities. >> first, let's have a look at some of the other stories making news. germany says it is prepared to send soldiers to molly as part -- to mali. chancellor angela merkel announced that germany was prepared to offer the army

logistical backup and training in its fight against militants. the eu will present a plan for the mission next month. >> israeli forces had killed two palestinian militant and wounded three in air strikes on gaza. israel carried out the strikes after militants attacked israeli troops as they entered northern gaza. >> former cuban leader fidel castro has published photos to quell rumors that he is near death. accused enemies of cuba of starting those -- he has accused enemies of cuba of starting those rumors. >> germany's government is considering whether to introduce mandatory quotas for women in higher-management positions in businesses. >> this minister has been

addressing the issue of men at home. >> just being home with the weekend is not enough for many dads in germany -- home for the weekend is not enough for many dads in germany. they want to spend more time with their children, taking care of the family. germany's family affairs minister wants working conditions to become more flexible for both moms and dads. >> we talk about the outrageous lack of women in leadership positions in the workplace, but we do not talking about the discrimination that men face at work when they take time off to care for their family. >> she says that parents should be free to decide who stays at home and who goes to work. she is calling for more personal choice, and not the quota system. forcing corporate boards to hire a certain number of female executives could lead to more

problems. >> if the person best qualified for a job does not get that position because the company has to fill a quota, that is a clear case of sexual discrimination. >> the families minister says that children should learn from a young age that men can work in many different environments. she is pushing for more men to work in the care centers, to show that there are alternatives to the rat race. >> the world health summit is under way in berlin. they are looking at health risks caused by looking -- by living in modern urban centers. >> the population living in cities is set increase in the future. >> what are the health implications for city dwellers? our report has more. city life can take its toll on your mental health. studies show that disorders like

depression and anxiety, even schizophrenia, our moral -- are more common in city dwellers than in people who live in the countryside. constant noise, confined spaces, and the frequent need to rush to meet deadlines all add up to a stressful lifestyle. many people also feel socially isolated, despite being surrounded by crowds of people. but what exactly is it about city life that is so harmful? this team of researchers believe that finding that out is essential. >> we estimate that by 2050, 2/3 of the world's population will live in cities. that will be a massive, social ecological change for humanity -- socio-ecological change for humanity. >> they examined the brains of volunteers, using computer

tomography. the technology allows scientists to observe blood circulation in different regions of the brain to show which regions are most active. after majoring base levels, the researchers subjected the volunteers -- after measuring base levels, the researchers subjected the volunteers to stress-provoking stimuli. >> the amygdala is a kind of danger sensor. there is something dangerous or unsettling in the environment, the amygdala is stimulated. that creates fear and desire to flee, or the fight or flight reflectx. >> researchers found that a small area within the amygdala reacted differently according to where the subjects lived. >> the area shows different activity levels according to whether the subject lives in the

city or the country. country-dwellers show very low levels. you can see that in this diagram. people who live in small towns show medium activity. people living in big cities have very high activity levels. >> so, country-dwellers are indeed less prone to stress. studies show that being born in the countryside has a protective the fact. the more time spent in the city during chao-shiuan, the more prone to stress you will be as an adult -- during childhood, the more prone to stress you will be as an adult. the information could enable us to design cities that encourage healthier and more relaxed life styles. >> then we will really be able to change things, for example through the distribution of green spaces or other aspects that could be important. we could take measures to

prevent psychiatric illness or directly improve mental-health throuh intelligent, urban planning -- intelligent urban planning. >> stressed0out city -- stressed-out city-dwellers can help themselves through meditation, for example. >> time to move onto the bond is legal -- the bundesliga. >> the home side aimed at extending their recent round of victory, but faced a hungry opponent. >> they took a 1-0 victory. >> there was a lot at stake for both coaches. stood guard took the lead after 30 minutes. -- stuttgart took the lead after 30 minutes. the keeper had no chance.

hamburg fought back. he hit the crossbar, but the rebound was called out for offisid-- offside. stewed guard -- stuttgart continued to attack. hamburg kept going. stuttgart are climbing up the table. >> that is it for now. >> stay with dw for more information. check us out at www.dw-world.de. >> don't go away.